SALISBURY, Md.- Finishing the first weekend of the season on Saturday (August 30) at the Salisbury University (Md.) Margie Knight Classic, UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball swept Penn State Altoona and beat Salisbury in four sets to improve to 3-0 on the young season.
 
The sixth-ranked team in Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the Titans beat Penn State Altoona (0-3) in set scores of 25-16, 25-18, 25-12 and defeated the host Seagulls (2-1), 25-17, 25-19, 27-29, 25-17.
 
With 33 assists in the Titans' third match of the weekend, the second most in a single game in her career, and 83 across the three sets, Izzy Coon (Fond du Lac/St. Mary's Springs Academy) surpassed 2,000 career assists to become the second Titan to reach the milestone in the last three years. Former Titan Kalli Mau (Appleton/Kimberly) reached the mark on October 21, 2023, against North Park University (Ill.)
 
Oshkosh hit .287 as a team against Penn State Altoona with 41 kills on 94 total attacks with 14 errors while holding the Lions to an attack percentage of .125 (21 kills, 11 errors, 80 attacks). The Titans paced their opponent with 53 points, 41 kills, nine aces, 38 assists, and 43 digs. Both programs recorded three blocks.
 
Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Community) and Emmy Wizceb (Sullivan/Johnsburg (Ill.)) led UW-Oshkosh with eight kills apiece, followed by seven from Samantha Perlberg (Chippewa Falls/Chippewa Falls). Wizceb registered a .727 hitting percentage on 11 attacks with zero errors.
 
Coon reached 20 assists (24) for the fourth-straight match dating back to last season's NCAA Division III Championship Third Round win over Illinois Wesleyan on November 23.
 
Three Titans served at least two aces led by Jaclyn Dutkiewicz's (Franklin/Franklin) three. Wizceb and Maren Motz (Hartland/Arrowhead Union) each had two blocks and both Juergens and Callie Panasuk (Oak Creek/Oak Creek) registered double-digit digs at 11 and 10 respectively.
 
Perlberg tied the first set at two points apiece and UW-Oshkosh used the opportunity to tack on additional points on a Riley Borrowman (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) kill, a Motz kill, and a Panasuk ace. The Titans extended their lead with six consecutive kills to make the score 12-4 and responded to a Lion kill with four more points. Penn State Altoona later cut the deficit to seven points at 16-9, however with the comfortable lead, the Titans were able to score in pairs to build up to a first-set win.
 
The Titans and Lions knotted the score at 1-1, 2-2, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 8-8, and 12-12 to keep the second set close to about the midway mark. Wizceb and Motz combined for a block to give Oshkosh the lead and Juergens notched an ace to make the score 14-12. Penn State Altoona pulled within a point three more times in the set before Clare McEniry (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) started a 5-0 run with a kill. A solo block by Wizceb made the score 22-18 which was followed by a Coon ace, a Wizceb kill, and a Juergens kill.
 
Oshkosh scored its first three points on unforced Lion errors and took advantage of the opportunity with a block by Motz and Borrowman and an ace for Dutkiewicz to claim a 6-2 edge. After a kill brought score within five points, the Titans went on a 7-1 tear that included three kills and two aces to claim a 21-10 lead. Two straight Wizceb kills and another by Juergens put an emphatic end to the match.
 
UW-Oshkosh finished opening weekend with a four-set win over Salisbury on Saturday afternoon. The Titans won the first two sets by holding the Seagulls to less than 20 points in each before the hosts sent the third set to extra points. Oshkosh won its ninth set in 10 tries in the fourth and held Salisbury to a negative attack percentage in the set.
 
Perlberg, Juergens, and Motz all recorded double-digit kills against Salisbury with 18, 16, and 11 respectively. They each put up hitting percentages over .200 led by Motz's .421 while Perlberg was one of two Titans to dig more than 10 attacks at 15. Coon was the other double-digit receiver with 17 digs to go along with her 33 assists.
 
Dutkiewicz recorded 21 additional assists for the Titans. Juergens led Oshkosh with five aces, followed by four from Panasuk and two each from Borrowman and Dutkiewicz. Perlberg and Borrowman both had a solo block to go with two block assists.
 
With a pair of two-point sports in the opening set, the Seagulls jumped out to the early lead before Perlberg hit a kill to bring the serve back to Oshkosh's side of the court and consecutive attack errors by Salisbury's Sadie Wilkinson made the score 6-5 in the visitors' favor. Shortly later, Oshkosh scored eight straight points with five kills to extend its edge to 14-7, however Salisbury followed with five points of its own to decrease the deficit to two points. After trading a few points, the Titans went on another one-sided tear to go up 22-14. Juergens finished the set off with another kill.
 
The Seagulls scored the first three points of the second set and Oshkosh responded by going 7-0 for the lead. Neither team scored more than twice in a row again until Juergens started a 4-0 streak that McEniry added to. Salisbury stuck around with four pairs of points, however a service error and another kill by Juergens put Oshkosh up 2 sets to none.
 
The first substantive run of the third set was compiled by UW-Oshkosh with a 5-1 run to create an 8-4 lead. The Titans extended their edge when Juergens and Wizceb bookended a 5-0 run with kills while Juergens served up three aces in the middle. The Seagulls wouldn't go away however and chipped away at the deficit with runs of four and three points, eventually tying the score at 24-24. They tied the set at 27-27 to earn the serve, winning the set on back-to-back blocks by Sophia Tapia and Kiley McTaggart.
 
UW-Oshkosh came out swinging in the fourth set, tallying six points after a Salisbury point and adding another five straight to go up, 11-4. The Seagulls climbed back within three points at 16-13 and 18-15, but Coon began a 7-2 spurt for Oshkosh with a kill. Only one point in the match-winning run was unforced with the remaining six coming on four kills and two blocks.
 
The Titans will return to Wisconsin and face St. Norbert College (4-0) and Lakeland University (2-1) at the Green Knights' Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center on Tuesday (September 2).
 
Next weekend (September 5-6), Oshkosh will host its first home matches of the season as the annual Marty Petersen Invitational will be held at Kolf Sports Center. The Titans will face their first top-25 teams in No. 11 Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) (4-0), No. 5 Emory University (Ga.) (3-0), and No. 15 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) (3-0).